'A Fistful of Dollars': The Christopher Frayling Archives: A
Fistful of Dollars; Commentary by Film Historian Christopher
Frayling; A New Kind of Hero; A Few Weeks in Spain: Clint
Eastwood on the Experience of Making the Film; Tre Voci: A
Fistful of Dollars; Not Ready for Primetime: Renowned
Filmmaker Monte Hellman discusses the Television Broadcast
of A Fistful of Dollars; The Network Prologue with Actor
Harry Dean Stanton; Location Comparisons: Then to Now; 10
Radio Spots; Double Bill Trailer; and Theatrical Trailer.

•
'For A Few Dollars More': The Christopher Frayling Archives:
For A Few Dollars More; Commentary by Film Historian
Christopher Frayling; A New Standard: Frayling on For A Few
Dollars More; Back for More: Clint Eastwood Remembers For A
Few Dollars More; Tre Voci: For A Few Dollars More; For A
Few Dollars More: The Original American Release Version;
Location Comparisons; 12 Radio Spots; Theatrical Trailer 1;
and Theatrical Trailer 2.

•
'The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly': Commentaries by Film
Historians Richard Schickel and Christopher Frayling;
Leone’s West; The Leone Style; The Man Who Lost the Civil
War; Reconstructing The Good, The Bad and the Ugly; IL
Maestro: Ennio Morricone and The Good, The Bad and the Ugly
- Part One; IL Maestro: Part Two; Deleted Scenes; Easter Egg
#1 Uno, Due, Tre; Easter Egg #2 Italian Lunch; Easter Egg #3
New York Actor; Easter Egg #4 Gun in Holster; Theatrical
Trailer; and French Trailer.

Bitrates:

Description: The box set includes the iconic Leone westerns
'A Fistful of Dollars,' 'For A Few Dollars More,' and 'The
Good, The Bad, and The Ugly' - all in 1080P resolution. The
Man With No Name (Italian: Uomo senza nome) as played by
American actor Clint Eastwood in what is often called "The
Dollars Trilogy".

The Film:

The "Man With No Name", as personified by Eastwood, embodies the
archetypical characteristics of the American movie cowboy — toughness,
exceptional physical strength or size, independence, and skill with a
gun — but departed from the original archetype due to his moral
ambiguity. Unlike the traditional cowboy, exemplified by actors John
Wayne, Alan Ladd, and Randolph Scott, the Man with No Name will
fight dirty and shoot first, if required by his own self-defined sense
of justice. Although he tends to look for ways to benefit himself, he
has, in a few cases, aided others if he feels an obligation to, such as
freeing a couple held captive in A Fistful of Dollars and
comforting a dying soldier after the bridge explosion in The Good,
the Bad, and the Ugly.

He is generally portrayed as an outsider, a mercenary or bounty hunter,
or even an outlaw. He is characteristically soft-spoken and laconic. The
character is an oft-cited example of an anti-hero, although he has a
soft spot for people in deep trouble. While rescuing the young mother
Marisol (Marianne Koch) in A Fistful of Dollars, he responds to
query about his motives with a curt "I knew somebody like you, once ...
and there was no one to help." This, along with the comment "I never
found home that great" and stating that he hails from Illinois, sums up
the only personal history the viewer ever receives about the character.

The character's distinctive appearance consists of a battered brown hat
with a telescope crown, pale blue shirt, black jeans, tan boots, a
sheepskin vest, and a patterned sarape or "poncho". He is usually armed
with one revolver with a silver rattlesnake on the grip, which is
holstered on a right-handed gunbelt. In contrast with other Western
heroes of the early- to mid-1960s, The Man is unshaven, almost to the
point of sporting a full beard. He habitually smokes a cigarillo while
working.

Due to budget considerations, Eastwood made the initial investment for
his character's appearance and demeanor. Most of the clothing was
purchased second-hand in California (with the exception of the sarape or
poncho, which was provided by Leone); the gunbelt and holster were from
Eastwood's previous TV series Rawhide. The Man's trademark cigars
were also from California; their harshness put Eastwood in what he
called a "scratchy mood", which aided in his characterization. The
trademark squint was partly due to these cigarros.

Director Leone has admitted that the iconic brown poncho, so indelible
to the character now, was less a style decision than an attempt on his
part to make the conventionally built Eastwood look more like the actor
he originally had in mind: American muscleman Steve Reeves, fresh from
his years starring in Italian Hercules movies.

Image : NOTE:The below
Blu-ray
captures were taken directly from the
Blu-ray
disc.

All transfers are dual-layered
and in MPEG-4 AVC 1080P in the 2.35-2.4 aspect ratio
offering the English language title cards.

With a virtual yoke of
anticipation - reviewers and fans awaited the 'Man With
No Name Trilogy". I won't overly dissect the image
quality as the screen captures below should help with a lot
of conclusions. There
are some obvious issues with this
Blu-ray
set. Starting with
'A Fistful of Dollars'
- as compared to the European (RHV), Region FREE,
Blu-ray
(made
from a restoration made by Cineteca Nazionale)
already reviewed
HERE - it appears to be cropped or 'zoomed-in'. It
isn't the same transfer with flesh tones being less red.
While it looks to have paler contrast - it seems to have as
much grain. I actually don't mind the appearance but
question the reason behind the cropping which can be quite
significant on the right edge (as well as top and bottom).
It is possible that either the MGM is vertically stretched a
shade or the RHV is horizontally compressed - it's
hard to be sure.

Being more positive - "For
a Few Dollars More"
looks better than I anticipated.
It shows more consistent grain than the other two editions
and while I suspected edge-enhancement I wasn't able to
identify it conclusively when zooming-in. It looks quite
good and the grain gives a solid texture to the visuals.
It could be the best appearance of the three, occasionally
exhibiting some depth, - also looking most film-like on
Blu-ray.

Unfortunately, but as
expected, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
is, essentially the same
Blu-ray transfer as the
hi-def one we reviewed
HERE. I didn't scrutinize a comparison (I only
matched two frame grabs - not included) but disc and feature
size match up as does running time to the 1/1000th of
second. It looks to have the same level of inconsistent,
waxy softness, DNR. Much of the iconic film looks fine but
those sensitive to Digital Noise Reduction may find it
irritating. Personally, I wasn't bothered but still believe
that the title could look much better. Saying that, as a
comparison to modern films-to-Blu - these Spaghetti Westerns
can only look so good due to production limitations.

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY
CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

Audio :

Audio is quite acceptable with
each transfer offering a lossless
DTS-HD Master 5.1 at between 2400 - 3700 kbps.

Ennio Morricone's
bold scores
seem to overtake certain scenes and while separations exists they are
never as crisp as we might have hoped. Still this would be more a
product of technical production I think. For the most part these sound
wonderful - with rich bass and, original, tinny high-end. Subtitle
options vary but most have multiple options.
I tested all three disc on my
Momitsuand each is identified
it as being a region FREE disc playable on
Blu-ray
machines worldwide.

Extras :

For the most
part supplements are repeated from various DVD editions, but they still
get full marks for the mass included on one disc. We get a lot from Film
Historian Christopher Frayling including commentaries on all three films
(joined by Richard Schickel on 'The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly').
There are featurettes of varying lengths including Clint Eastwood
Remembers and Clint on on the Experience of Making the Films,
Location Comparisons, 20-minutes of Leone's West, and a
1/2 hour of The Leone's Style plus much more. The package is very
worthwhile in regards to the extras and this is one facet we can
whole-heartedly endorse. "A Fistful of Dollars" and "For a Few
Dollars More" have a 'My Scenes" ability.

NOTE: Menus are consistent in all three discs - also, they are very well animated.

BOTTOM LINE: This set is a real dichotomy as in one respect the films are so
enduring that an endorsement would seem a no-brainer - but
in another regard the video transfers seem to have
limitations that some fans and serious HD enthusiasts will
find too disappointing. Personally, on
Blu-ray the good outweighs the bad and the visual uglies
don't come into play enough for me to not to have thoroughly
re-enjoyed The Man With No Name Trilogy. There are
some impressive moments in 1080P. As far as the film
experience goes - it never seems to diminish. If you taken
into consideration the audio and supplements as well I think
the package is definitely worth the indulgence. I do so with
a pack of cigarillos and whisky bottle on hand.

Gary Tooze

May 22nd, 2010

About the Reviewer:
Hello, fellow Beavers! I have been interested in film
since I viewed a Chaplin festival on PBS when I was
around 9 years old. I credit DVD with expanding my
horizons to fill an almost ravenous desire to seek out
new film experiences. I currently own approximately 9500
DVDs and have reviewed over 3500 myself. I appreciate my
discussion Listserv for furthering my film
education and inspiring me to continue running DVDBeaver.
Plus a healthy thanks to those who donate and use our
Amazon links.

Although I never wanted to become one of those guys who
focused 'too much' on image and sound quality - I
find HD is swiftly pushing me in that direction. So be
it, but film will always be my first love and I list my
favorites on the old YMdb site now accessible
HERE.